Well, I was thinking and looking over forum posts about Espionage and I was quite cold that it seems espionage is quite useless in its entirety, while I may not know everything about it I think we should be getting more than just some info (I'm sure that heavily fortified military starbase would do something to boost their ships and I don't need advanced level to know that) and the "lower-than-lottery" chance of getting a tech from them (of course this is all just an exaggeration, but that's not the point).

What I propose is that we should revamp the espionage system (which of course could be and probably is a TON of work)... I think we should gain levels much more slower with espionage but they should do a ton more per each level (In stealing techs maybe even with Low you can steal let say... a Laser from them if they're already with the Plasma Beams and such low level techs in contrast)... here's my ideas about espionage levels

Low: There could be a chance of stealing a couple of credits from the opponent and a chance of getting sensor information from opponent ships in addition to the other info you get. Research stealing should start here but it should be EXTREMLY rare and should give you low level techs (maybe Luck can help you)

Medium: I haven't put much thought into any Medium benefits, other than increased tech steal and other benefit you could've gotten

High: You have a chance of stealing a random ship from the opponent (the opponent sees the ship as "defecting" and could see it as neutral but have no idea of who got it... unless they're onto you), ships orbiting planets cannot be stolen and neiter can starbases or constructors. Also there's a chance of a random planetary improvement on a random planet of an opponents to be destroyed (What can a can of cola do in the right place...), of course, such destructive techniques are at your discretion, wouldn't want to weaken your allies. Also the same other advantages, yadayada, increased tech steal

Advanced: After a LONG way and spending trillons (maybe even quadillions) of credits you get this. The benefits of such a feat could give you a chance of enemy starbases to confer their bonuses to you instead of their own (Hey, why when I biult this here starbase THEY get stronger), also you should now be getting techs at a progresive speed

This is just a rough over look, more things can be added and some stuff could be taken out. I also believe that through levels of espionage (even far above Advanced) you can actually dominate the entire race from the inside out (if battle is the sword why can't espionage be the slow poison) and surrender to you... after all isn't that what spies dream off?

Also espionage could be concentrated into certain planets, maybe having a higher chance of a certain tech be stolen, higher chance on that planet bad stuff happening among other things). And having a high espionage modifier could defend you from those things yourself. Mabe there's space in the tech tree for an espionage branch.

Well, I don't know if this is already said, but I would like to backstab my enemies and look at my allies from behind the scenes.